Age Relative Term For 14-Year-Old Champion Park

By David Shefter, USGA

Lakewood, Wash. – Most people know the Olympic motto is “Faster, High, Stronger.” Now if the USGA had such a slogan, considering the ages of some of the recent champions, it might be “Younger, Better and More Talented.”

For the second consecutive year at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, a player under the age of 15 walked away with the trophy. Kristen Park of Buena Park, Calif., defeated Japanese-born 17-year-old Ayaka Kaneko of Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 and 3, Saturday in the 36-hole final at Tacoma Country and Golf Club. Park, at 14 years, 7 months and 1 day, became the fourth-youngest Girls’ Junior champion.

Last year, 13-year-old Jenny Shin of Torrance, Calif., became the second-youngest winner of this prestigious event.

Two weeks later, 14-year-old Kimberly Kim won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the youngest ever to do so in the championship’s 111-year history. Earlier this year, a 12 year old qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open. And we now have 16-year-olds turning pro long before they ever receive their high school diplomas.

Fear? Are you kidding?

Fourteen-year-old Kristen Park was unflappable in the final. (Robert Walker/USGA)

Fear is asking the cute guy in English class to the high school dance, not making 10-foot downhill, right-to-left breaking putts with a championship on the line.

Fear is taking the SAT.

Fear is asking mom and dad for the car keys.

When these juniors head to the golf course, there’s no need to check the birth certificate. They are armed with top-notch equipment, top-level instruction and resounding confidence that they can play and beat anyone.

“Golf is exciting right now,” said Clark Miyazaki, who served as Kaneko’s caddie and has caddied for former PGA Tour winner David Ishii. “It’s an exciting sport.”

One that is seemingly getting younger and better each year.

Keep this in mind: Park only took up the game four years ago. Prior to that, she played tennis until her grandfather asked her to try a new game. A year later, she was winning local southern California golf events. By 13, she was playing the McDonald’s Betsy Rawls Girls’ Championship, a prestigious American Junior Golf Association invitational.

This year, she won the Kathy Whitworth Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas, finished among the top three at two AJGA majors, made the West team for the Canon Cup and qualified for her first USGA championship. Not only did she qualify, she wound up winning the title, going 6-0 in her first-ever match-play competition. And after spending a few days in Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Canon Cup, a Ryder Cup-style competition for the AJGA’s elite players, Park will be off to Carmel, Ind., to play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

“I’m now confident I can play with the [more-experienced] girls I play with now and that I can beat them anytime,” said Park, who will be a freshman at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton, Calif., in the fall. “You just have to work. We get used to playing with older girls and I think the younger girls have just as much talent as the older girls.

“[We have] no fear.”

You see this at the U.S. Women’s Open, where 11 Girls’ Junior participants competed at Pine Needles this year and a total of 15 had qualified for at least one Women’s Open. You see it at the Women’s Amateur, where three of last year’s quarterfinalists competed this week’s Girls’ Junior, including Kaneko. You see at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, where five of the last eight champions have been under the age of 18, including 13-year-old Michelle Wie (2003) and 15-year-old Ya-Ni Tseng (2004).

Now players are winning the Girls’ Junior before getting their driver’s permit.

For Park, the difference is all mental. At last year’s Betsy Rawls event, she finished 33rd, shooting a final-round 81. This year, she finished third, a couple of weeks after being the runner-up at the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Columbus, Ohio. At the Girls’ Junior, she was the No. 4 qualifier in stroke play and then defeated six opponents, including 17-year-old Stephanie Kono in the semifinals, 2 up. Kono was competing in her sixth Girls’ Junior. Kaneko, her opponent in the final, was playing in her third Girls’ Junior. She also beat 2006 Women’s Open qualifier Stacey Kim, 2 and 1, in the third round.

“It’s actually my mental game that I am improving on,” said Park. “I have pretty good course management right now, and my coach (George Pinnel) helps me with management on the course. Mentally, I am getting stronger.”

Her physical game isn’t bad, either. While she hasn’t quite developed a power game, her ball-striking and short game is impeccable. The difference in the final came on the greens, where Park seemed to hole all the clutch putts. The biggest came at the par-4 26th hole, where she converted a 10-foot par putt to halve the hole and maintain her 2-up advantage.

Park’s lone bogey of the afternoon round occurred at the par-3 33rd, which turned out to be the last hole. She missed a 10-footer, but Kaneko then failed to make her 5-footer to extend the match.

Then it was time to get the trophy and accept the accolades from the assembled press, her mother and caddie Erin Evans, whom she has known since first grade. The two attended St. Irenaeus Parish School but will go their separate ways in the fall – Park to Sunny Hills and Evans to St. Joseph’s in Lakewood.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Evans of the caddie gig. “I like it.”

Maybe they can do it again next year in West Hartford, Conn. After all, Park still has three more years of eligibility in this championship.

Then again, there might be some 8-year-old out there ready to prevent her from winning the trophy again.

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.